New Member 8-30-26. Cat newly diagnosed with diabetes.

Tmorris

Tmorris

Member Since 2026
Hello. I am new on here and wanted to share my concerns about my 5 yr old cat, Matilda. A little over a month ago, i took her to the vet because i noticed she had been losing weight and muscle mass. She is already naturally small. At that visit she weighed 6 lbs. The vet did bloodwork and everything was normal except her glucose. Her diet was purina indoor kibble free fed. The vet recommended starting her on a high protein low carb diet with a recheck after 2 weeks. The weekend before her recheck she stopped eating. She was drinking alot of water. That monday morning before work, i brought her to the emergency vet. She was hospitalized due to dka and stayed the whole week. She was put on half a unit of prozinc twice daily. I noticed she was extremely sensitive and after 6 hours her glucose curve went dangerously low. I had an incident where i gave her prozinc during her 6pm shot time with a glucose reading of just under 200. 3 hours later she was in dangerous low numbers. We managed that without having to bring her to the hospital but i was scared to give the prozinc to her unless it was in the 300s due to that. Around Aug 10 she had a vet appointment for a recheck and we thought she was in remission. The vet said we could pause the insulin. Last sunday, she ate breakfast but didnt eat dinner. I could tell she was sick. I took her to the emergency vet before work the following monday (Aug 24) and she was in dka again. She stayed at the hospital until friday. She is now on half a unit of lantus, given twice daily. The vet said due to her sensitivity to the lantus, only give it if her BG is 350 or above. That fri evening it was in the high 200s so i did not give her a shot. By Sat morning around 5am her freestyle libre said HI. I fed her sheba and a churu because she was hungry and administered lantus. Last night she ate normally and her BG was right at 350 so i gave her a shot. She vomited her food around 11pm and a little liquid around 4am. At 5:30am i offered her food and she ate all of it. This morning her BG was in the low 300s so i didnt give her a shot. I also checked her ketones and it read 0.4. Her glucose has went down to the high 200s. She has about 5 hrs to go before her next check. Im just so nervous and anxious about all of this and her sensitivity to the insulin. Most of my anxiety is coming from the 2 hospitalizations and the uncertainty of the dosing, as well as the financial toll. She weighs only 5.5 lbs since this last vet stay.
 
Hello and welcome. I have a few questions, as will probably most people. Some of those answers can go in your signature - details on what and how in here: New? How You Can Help Us Help You!

Is the Freestyle Libre the only way you are testing her blood sugars? When you say "dangerously low numbers" what numbers are you talking about and was that on the Libre? I'm asking because the Libre often reads a lot lower (and sends off alarms) well below those of a hand held blood glucose meter.

When she came home from DKA, were you given any medications, such as anti nausea medications or appetite stimulants? Treating nausea is essential after DKA - I like ondansetron best, though Cerenia can be of help especially if there is vomiting.

What food is she eating now? Did you slowly transition her over?

Not giving insulin to a kitty so recently in DKA is a very bad idea. The formula for DKA is not enough insulin + not enough calories + systemic inflammation or infection. Was she diagnosed with anything else besides the DKA at the time it happened? A couple strategies for insulin is to delay until her numbers are high enough to shoot, or give a reduced dose. Ideally though, you'd give full dose on time. If you could help us by putting together a spreadsheet of the data you have been seeing, we can help decide if such a very high preshot number makes sense. With Lantus, the cycles tend to be flatter. On this forum, we tell new people not to shoot below 200, except if recently in DKA. Which we'd love to avoid happening again.
 
Yes, ive been using her freestyle libre for most of her readings. Her dangerously low numbers were showing around 49. When the vet wanted to start her on a low carb high protein diet i completely switched her foods. That was a little over a month ago. Ive researched foods and found she eats dr elseys clean protein kibble and tiki cat wet food varieties. After i got her home friday evening she wasnt interested in her food too much. Saturday morning i gave her sheba wet food and she liked it and ate it all. They were giving her an appetite stimulant at the vet. I still have some from her first hospitalization, but she's been eating good since sat morning. They didnt give us anything for nausea. I am trying to get her an appointment with someone who specializes in feline diabetes. Im just praying she stays ok until then. Im so worried about her going back in dka but i dont want to give her insulin if its gonna put her in danger too.
 
Tmorris said:
I am trying to get her an appointment with someone who specializes in feline diabetes.
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Good luck with that, it's hard to find. Maybe see if you have a feline only clinic near you? My vet didn't even know Lantus, and most of her feline clients didn't keep their cats with the FD diagnosis. She was thrilled when I said that of course I wanted to treat Neko.

Cats soon after DKA should be eating about 1.5 times their normal amount of calories. Sounds like your girl could gain some weight. At this point, feed her what she'll eat and worry about if it's the best food for her diabetes later. Can. you ask the hospital vet if you could get a prescription for ondansetron, just in case? It's a human drug that you get at a regular pharmacy, but the vet has to write a prescription for it.

If you are worried about giving insulin, you can always try that half dose or delay, but you should not skip the dose at this point.

49 is a normal cat BG number, tested one of my non diabetics at that with a human BG meter. It's just that we don't want cats on insulin to go that low. What's also important is looking at whether she was exhibiting any hypo symptoms.
 
There is a cat care clinic by me where they have a dr. who is good with feline diabetes. Thats what her dr. at the hospital told me so im trying to get her an appointment. So it is ok for her to eat outside of her scheduled meal times as well as during her meal times? If her BG is 340 should it be safe to give her the prescribed half unit of lantus?
 
Diabetic cats do well with multiple small meals. In the beginning, try not to feed her for the two hours before the shot, as that food can influence (increase) the value before you shoot and you want to make sure it's otherwise OK to give insulin.
 
Thank you for the advice. I called the emergency vet and spoke to a technician about her glucose numbers. She said anywhere between 250 and 350 should be safe. That makes me feel alot better. Her 6:30 PMPS was 310. Her dinner was about 2 hours after her last meal. She seems to have more energy than she did this morning. Im feeling more hopeful.
 
Energy is good! Can you get a test about two hours after shot time? That'll give us a clue what type of cycle it'll be.
 
That's quite a drop down - not uncommon. Could you give a little bit of food and test again in an hour or so?
 
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